


Pillow Talk

by FestiveFerret



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bonding, Falling In Love, Fluffy, M/M, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 09:11:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13521117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FestiveFerret/pseuds/FestiveFerret
Summary: It took Steve a while to realize how often it happened. How many missions or adventures ended with them forced to take refuge for the night in one bed. Sometimes, it was a luxurious king in a fancy hotel room. Sometimes, it was a tiny pup tent in the middle of the woods.But he and Tony always seemed to end up sharing.





	Pillow Talk

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to ashes0909 for the beta <3

It took Steve a while to realize how often it happened. How many missions or adventures ended with them forced to take refuge for the night in one bed. Sometimes, it was a luxurious king in a fancy hotel room. Sometimes, it was a tiny pup tent in the middle of the woods.

But he and Tony always seemed to end up sharing.

**

The first time it happened wasn’t for SHIELD at all. 

Tony had invited Steve to join him for a charity SI gala in Italy of all places. Having Captain America show up was apparently a draw, and the more tickets they sold, the more they’d have to donate to the charity. If Steve was honest with himself, however, he was excited about the chance to travel to Europe without an obligation to shoot people. 

“So the hotel is booked up,” Tony said as Steve climbed onto the plane. His bag had been whisked away at some point, and attendants in crisp suits were already hustling him towards a seat and showering him with food and drink options. “I booked at the place hosting the gala because I’m usually drunk enough that it’s hard to find an elevator let alone an entirely different building. I can book you down the street.”

Steve opened his mouth to reply that he didn’t mind, whatever was easiest. It wasn’t like he was going to be too drunk to find his hotel, but a glass of water and a cheese plate somehow appeared in front of him and between that and trying to figure out his seatbelt he forgot to actually say words.

“Or you could bunk with me, if you don’t mind. It’s probably a suite. I don’t know, my new PA books these things, and it’s usually a suite. Willing to take the gamble that we’ll have to share a double?”

Steve’s seatbelt finally clicked closed, and he grabbed his water glass so the rumbling plane wouldn’t spill it. “Sure. I don’t mind. Whatever makes the most sense.”

Tony smiled. “Alright, stay with me then. Then I don’t have to worry about you being whisked off by some beautiful Italian woman, dragged off to her home never to be heard from again.” Tony paused. “Unless that’s what you want. Do you want your own hotel so you can do some whisking? Won’t hold it against you, Cap.”

“Uh, no thanks. No whisking for me. You don’t want to - um - whisk? Have… whisking space?”

Tony waved a hand dismissively. “Nah. I’ve kind of been on a no-whisking run since -” He tapped his fingers against the glass pane in his chest. “I shall schmooze, I shall wine, I shall dine. And then I shall pass out on very expensive sheets, drooling on a very expensive pillow, and catch up on the truly colossal amount of sleep I’m behind on. Work for you?”

Steve smiled. “Sounds perfect.”

And it seemed like it would be. Tony checked them in and tossed Steve a keycard and a room number. They had changed on the plane and barely had time to dump their bags with the bellhop before they were expected in the ballroom. Tony gave a speech that managed to be funny, self-deprecating, and self-congratulating all at once. He introduced Steve, who found he wasn’t expected to do more than smile a lot and shake a lot of hands. 

The food was incredible and never-ending, and Tony didn’t drink nearly as much as he’d suggested he was going to. All in all, the night ended up being one of the best Steve’d had in a long time. Still, as the clock ticked on, he found himself looking forward to the expensive sheets and pillows Tony had promised.

“Hey, Cap!” Tony appeared at his side and clapped a hand to his shoulder. “You look ready to pass out. Time for a graceless exit?”

Steve nodded. “I think so. You don’t have to leave too, if you don’t want to. I can go upstairs. I won’t eat the mint on your pillow,” he offered with a smile.

Tony laughed. “Yes you will, and you’ll lie and say there weren’t any. Because you might be Captain America but you’re also a little shit, don’t think I don’t know it. Come on, let’s go. I already told the hosts we were bailing.”

“Thank you.”

Tony hustled Steve off towards the elevator, dodging a few last minute handshakes on the way. It was all Steve could do not to nod off right there, in the elevator, half-leaning against Tony’s side. The doors opened at the 11th floor, and at the end of the hall was 1125.

It was not a suite.

It wasn’t even a double.

It was a single.

“Dammit,” Tony swore, pulling open closet doors as if the other, nonexistent rooms would miraculously appear. “I’m so sorry. I’ll see if we can switch, I do have some sway.”

“You said it was booked.” Steve eyed the bed covetously. All he wanted to do was collapse.

“Hmph.” Tony glared at the phone, clearly trying to make a game plan. “I’ll book you down the street, I’m sure they still have something.”

“I don’t think I’ll make it down the street,” Steve admitted.

“Then I’ll go.”

“I’m not going to kick you out of your hotel room, Tony.” Steve leaned against the wall to stop from swaying. “I don’t mind sharing. It’s a king, we could each build an entire new civilization on our side and still never see each other. Buck and I used to share a twin all the time when we were kids.”

Tony chuckled. “To be fair, you took up less space back then. Are you sure you don’t mind? Cause I am about ready to facedown and snore right here on the floor. Jet lag’s a bitch.”

“Course not. I’m used to it. You don’t mind, do you? I’ve caught you and Rhodey conked out on the couch in your workshop enough times that I assume you’re not bothered by company.” Steve shot him a cheeky smile.

“What a man and his precious honeyapple do in the privacy of the public Avenger’s couches is their own business,” he said, mock-haughtily. “But no, I do not mind in the slightest. Fair warning, I’m an octopus at night. Just give me a sharp elbow to the solar plexus if my army tries to invade your civilization.” He shot Steve a considering look. “Actually a sharp elbow from you might break a rib. Maybe a gentle, caressing elbow?”

Steve laughed then padded off to the bathroom, his pjs in his arms. “Whatever you say, Tony.”

Tony took the bathroom after him, and Steve took the left side of the bed, not sure if Tony had a preference. He slid in between the sheets and settled his head on the pillow and,  _ god,  _ it really was amazing. Soft, but not too soft, the blankets were just enough weight to make him feel cozy without feeling hot and overwhelmed. He was already drifting off to sleep when Tony padded back in.

“Good?” Tony asked.

“So good.” Steve tried and failed to make it not sound like a moan.

But Tony laughed and crawled into the other side of the bed without hesitation. He shot Steve a soft smile. “Thanks for coming tonight.”

“Thanks for bringing me,” Steve said honestly.

Tony flicked off the light. Steve was asleep instantly.

Tony didn’t invade his side in the night, or if he did, Steve was so deeply asleep he didn’t notice, and Tony was breathing softly on his side come morning. Or at least, his dark hair was poking out of the top of the blankets, and the lump that must be him was shifting up and down slowly, so Steve assumed he was alright.

They’d already planned that Steve, the early riser, would pop out and do some sightseeing while Tony enjoyed the benefits of a hotel room with no alarms, bots, Avengers, JARVIS, or fire sprinklers to awaken him. (It was one time, and Clint was very, very sorry).

Steve felt wonderfully well-rested, despite the late night, and he thoroughly enjoyed the rest of his time in Italy. It wasn’t awkward, that they’d shared, though they didn’t really talk about it either. Tony was his best friend, there wasn’t anything weird about it.

But then it kept happening.

There was that time a massive thunderstorm had grounded them in St. Kitts after a mission, and they’d been forced to take refuge in a tiny cabin on the island while they waited it out. There was one, small bed with a warm, but slightly moth-eaten blanket on it, and Tony had stripped out of the undersuit without a care and climbed in bed in nothing but his boxers. He patted the mattress next to him, and Steve joined him. They hadn’t slept much, the pounding roar of the rain against the metal roof hard to ignore, but they’d rested and chatted, and in the end, it hadn’t really been that bad of a night.

Followed by another hotel room mixup, by SHIELD this time.

Then that awful mission in North Carolina where they’d ended up stuck in the back room of a bar all night, backs pressed against each other for safety and warmth. It wasn’t exactly sharing a bed, but Steve had nodded off a few hours in and woken with his head tipped back on Tony’s shoulder, so it felt like it.

The safehouse in Inverness. The whole team was in on that one, minus Thor who was still off-world. They’d brought Bruce back to himself, then hightailed it to the SHIELD safehouse. Nat was on the radio before they were even all inside. It wasn’t that cold out, but it was wildly windy, and the small farmhouse rattled and shook on its foundation. 

“Eighteen hours until extraction,” Nat announced, setting down the radio.

Steve helped Bruce to the kitchen table and sat him in a chair. This place was tiny - it didn’t even have a sofa - just a kitchenette, a table with four chairs, a bathroom and -

“There are only three bedrooms,” Clint announced, coming back through one of the doors he’d opened. “Nat and I will take the nice one.”

Steve was pretty sure they weren’t  _ together  _ but he’d never seen two people so joined at the hip, and he knew that Nat frequently spent the night in Clint’s room.

“Steve and I can share,” Tony said lightly, and Steve startled around. He’d expected Tony to offer to stay with Bruce. Tony must have caught Steve’s surprise because he added, “Brucie needs his beauty sleep after that transformation.”

And, Steve supposed, that made sense. Bruce usually crashed for 10-14 hours after de-hulking, and the worse he slept, the longer he’d need to recover. But he also got the distinct impression that Tony had offered to share automatically, without thinking about it. Apparently, Steve was his default bunkmate and… really, that was kind of nice. Steve liked Tony, he was Steve’s best friend, and he was glad Tony trusted him. Sure, they’d been shoved together a lot lately, but like the hotel in Italy, this was by choice, in a way. And that was… kind of nice.

Steve squirmed in his own thoughts, not entirely sure why, but no one else seemed to notice. No one stayed up very late, though the pounding wind against the loose windows wasn’t going to be very conducive to a good night’s sleep. Bruce disappeared almost immediately, only sparing a few minutes to eat some of the packaged food stored in the tiny kitchen before he padded off to bed, closing the door behind him. It was all for the best; there were only four chairs and Steve was getting tired of standing.

Nat and Clint followed a few hours later, after a few half-hearted hands of poker. Steve cleared up the food wrappers while Tony tucked the cards back into the package. They trudged into the last empty bedroom without a word. 

Steve peeled off the outside layers of the suit, but, not having a change of clothes, ended up climbing into bed in his undershirt and boxers. Tony had been wearing sweatpants and a light sweater already, when he’d put on the armour, so he just went to bed fully clothed. 

It wasn’t the same as the hotel. The bed was small and uncomfortable, the wind was wild outside, and they were both rattled from the mission. Tony pulled the blanket over their legs, but it was thin and did little more than offer the psychological relief of coverings.

“I think I should have gone for the flying guy,” Tony said, his voice making Steve realize how long they’d been lying in silence.

Steve sighed. “We’ve been over it, Tony. You made the right choice. Let it go.”

“Hmm.” But he fell silent. It didn’t last long. “So… a little angry green birdie told me you had a date the other day.”

“What?” Steve wracked his brain, trying to figure out what Tony could be referring to.

“You and Hill. Bruce says you guys have been dating.”

“What? No!” Steve realized how that sounded. “I mean, no we’re not. I like her, but we’re just friends. We meet up for coffee once in a while, we text, that kind of thing.”

Tony nudged Steve’s calf with his foot. “Coffee can lead to other things.”

“No, no. I - I don’t want that.”

There was a pause. “Not your type?”

Steve shifted on the sheets, trying to make it seem like he was getting better settled under the covers and not that he was uncomfortable. “No. She’s lovely, but… no.”

“Well, what is your type? I know tons of amazing women. I could hook you up.”

Steve bit his lip, waffling in indecision. He shot a look Tony’s way and caught his face in the light of the arc reactor. Steve steeled himself. “Um… well. Men. Actually.”

“What?” Tony turned towards Steve in the semi-dark, but Steve had planted his eyes back on the blanket. “Oh.” 

Steve was suddenly painfully aware that he was in bed with Tony and he’d just admitted that he liked men and if Tony wasn’t okay with that they were in for an unbearably awkward night where one of them would have to sleep on the floor and it should be him because he had to go and open his mouth and -

“What’s your type in men, then?” Tony barrelled on. “I know tons of amazing men too. Some of them aren’t straight, and some are but would suddenly become incredibly flexible if they knew Captain America was on offer, just saying.” Steve opened his mouth to respond, but Tony wasn’t finished. “I could set you up with my ex, Ty. He’s kind of a dick, but in a fun way. He could show you some stuff…” Tony trailed off, obviously following some random train of thought down the tracks. Steve didn’t want to know what ‘stuff’ Tony’s ex could show him, especially since his own train of thought had firmly caught on the idea that Tony had exes who were men.

“It’s okay,” Steve said hurriedly. “You don’t have to, uh, set me up…” He fell quiet, and Tony made a small humming noise then followed suit. Steve stewed in uncomfortable tension while he spun the thought around in his mind.

“Hey, Steve?” Tony asked, when several minutes had gone by with neither of them speaking. “Did I make things weird? I feel like I made things weird. You don’t have to bang my ex.”

“Uh no, it, uh, wasn’t that,” Steve stuttered out. “I - uh - I didn’t know you… dated men.”

“Oh.” Tony tapped his fingers against the front of the arc reactor, making the light split and dance on the ceiling. “Sorry… I thought you’d be cool with that since -”

“Oh, shit no! Of course I’m fine with it, Tony,” Steve hastened to interrupt. “It’s not that, it’s - I’ve kind of been feeling a little… I don’t know. Alone? With it? Unsure, maybe. I don’t know.”

“First of all.” Tony tucked his hands behind his head on the pillow. “You’re not alone in anything. Even if I didn’t date men, you still wouldn’t be alone, Steve. You know we’ve all got your back, right?”

“I know. It was just… I don’t know. It didn’t used to be something you talked about. And people have this idea that Captain America is this paragon of virtue and -”

“Being gay doesn't make you any less virtuous,” Tony said, and Steve could hear the smile in his voice. “Or any less paragon-y. Or any less… Captain America… ish. Okay that got away from me. But, look, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but if you did? Most people would support you, or at least tolerate it. And the team? We’re all behind you no matter what. They’d just switch from making up crazy rumours about you and Hill to ones about you and guys.”

“Well, you’re the man I spend the most time with so you’d probably get caught in that rumor.”

Tony laughed. “I’ve been in the tabloids for worse.”

Silence fell again, comfortable this time, and Steve shifted around until he was stretched out on his stomach, arms curled under the pillow. He could feel Tony’s presence beside him in a comforting way. “Hey, Tony?”

“Mmm?”

“Thank you.”

Tony let out an odd little chuckle. “Yeah.” Steve could hear him smiling. “But like, blonds or brunets? Cause I know this one guy, who -”

“Tony.”

“Mhm?”

“Go to sleep.”

Tony paused. Then, “Okay. Night.”

“Night.”

Neither of them got much sleep - it was too loud and too uncomfortable - but when the sun came up and they climbed out of bed, Steve felt unusually well-rested, almost lighter. 

**

It went on, and they both started to expect it. It seemed that the world was constantly conspiring to put them side-by-side while they slept. They woke up beside each other on the common room couch more than once, the credits for a movie paused at the end. They shared more hotel beds, more safehouse beds, and the extremely lumpy and uncomfortable guest room bed at Clint’s farm. They even collapsed into a SHIELD-issued cot once after a particularly grueling training exercise had gone longer than expected. They hadn’t even discussed it that time, they’d just followed each other to one of the empty rooms, crawled in, and passed out immediately. 

If the rest of the team noticed, they didn’t care, and for Steve and Tony it became somewhat of a  _ thing,  _ something unique about their bizarre friendship. It had been a long time since Steve felt that comfortable with someone. It was nice.

**

Steve tossed the tent on the ground a little harder than necessary. Tomorrow morning they’d be infiltrating a shady weapons deal, possibly involving some ex-HYDRA goons, but for now they just had to get through this night of camping in Boulder without killing each other.

Tony brushed past with a huff, heading for the woods, and Steve staunchly ignored him. 

By the time Tony reappeared, Steve had the tent up and a pile of logs ripped into frustrated pieces by the scuffed up spot in the dirt he’d decided was the firepit. The silence continued as they started a fire and picked at the instant food they’d had in their packs. Steve knew it wouldn’t last long, eventually Tony would -

“I did what you  _ said,  _ though, so you really have no right to -”

“Seriously, Tony?!” And that was it, Steve’s frayed patience snapped. “You  _ know  _ that’s not true. You know it. You can try and make excuses all you want, but you pulled that shit on purpose. I said, ‘Clear the bunker,’ and you went the other way.”

Tony opened his mouth then snapped it shut again. He ran a tight hand through his hair and huffed out a small, “fuck,” quiet enough that Steve assumed he wasn’t supposed to have heard it. “Fine,” Tony eventually snapped. “I fucked up. You’re right.”

It felt nothing like victory to Steve. His mood continued to plummet as the night went on and Tony refused to talk or even look at him. When it was dark enough that Tony could apparently pretend it was a reasonable bedtime, without it looking like running away, Tony stood and walked to the tent without a word. Steve sat in the pressing dark for a long time, his back against a tree and his feet out towards the dwindling fire. He could sleep out here, give Tony his privacy. Though he didn’t know why he was making concessions for Tony’s comfort when Tony had been the one ignoring orders. Steve loved that they were friends, best friends, but it made it frustrating, trying to balance their working relationship. Tony was defiant even at the best of times, but knowing exactly which buttons he had to push to have Steve forgiving him made him an almost impossible man to command.

But this time he wasn’t pushing buttons - he was retreating.

Steve sighed, stood. He dumped the rest of his water bottle over the hot coals and watched as they hissed and flickered out, plunging the woods into darkness. The inside of the tent was lit by the arc reactor, however, even though Tony was facing the slanted fabric side, curled up into himself inside his sleeping bag.

Steve watched him for a moment, but when Tony’s face didn’t appear, he slipped into his own sleeping bag and stared up at the mesh vent at the top of the tent. “Tony? I’m sorry I yelled at you,” he tried, figuring it was up to him as team leader to hold out the olive branch. But Tony, it seemed, wouldn’t take it.

Steve started slipping off into sleep, weightlessness swirling around him as his eyes sunk closed. Then a shift of fabric rocked him back into wakefulness.

“I couldn’t go in.” Tony’s voice was so small Steve had to strain to pick out the words.

“What?” He turned towards the sound and saw that Tony had rolled over and was staring at him now.

“I couldn’t go in the bunker.” Tony looked like he was fighting with the words themselves, pushing them out from between tight jaws.

“Why not?”

“It -” Tony took a painful sounding breath. “It looked… like. Steve. Sometimes, I see the -” He let out a huff of frustration, but Steve waited, giving him time to work the words out. “It was the wormhole. The hole in the roof of the bunker. It was the wormhole.” The words tumbled out in a jagged mess, then Tony stopped and his eyes went wide as if he was surprised he’d managed to say it at all.

Steve tried to make sense of it. “The bunker looked like the wormhole?” he asked gently. “I didn’t think it did…”

“No. It - I know it didn’t actually. But sometimes things do… even when they don’t. I - uh - I panicked.”

Silence fell like a heavy blanket over them while Steve tried to process the information. “Tony…” he tried to keep his voice calm, even though it wanted to shake, even though he wanted to grab Tony and shake  _ him  _ and - not let go. “You - you could have said something. You let me make -”

“I can’t, Steve. In that moment, I can’t. It all feels undoable and I can’t talk about it. I just need to - to -  _ get out.”  _ Tony shivered, and Steve resisted the urge to reach over and pull him to his chest. Tony needed breathing room right now. But Steve did shift around, onto his side, a little closer, facing Tony. 

“I’m sorry.”

Tony smiled. “You don’t have to be sorry, Steve. It wasn’t anything you did. You were right to be pissed. Still are, really. I can’t do this if I’m jumping at my own shadow. Iron Man can’t -”

“No. You can, you do. You just, you need to find a way to let me know if that happens so I don’t push. So I can make an alternate plan. We need you on the team, Tony. But we can cover for this if it happens.” He thought for a moment. “Can JARVIS -? He told me that time you got knocked out. Can he tell? Say something? It doesn’t have to be to everyone. Maybe a - a codeword or something?”

Tony worked his bottom lip between his teeth. “Yeah... maybe.”

“Okay. Well, we don’t have to, you know, sort it out now, but - uh - I’m sorry I yelled, and thank you. For telling me.”

Tony let out a slow breath and shifted further down in his sleeping bag. He was still shivering a little, and Steve wasn’t sure if it was the air chilling or stress.

“Cold?” he asked lightly. Tony nodded. “Come here.” He tried to shift his sleeping bag in a way that looked welcoming. Tony caught his eye in the meagre light and raised an eyebrow but wiggled forward anyway until the edges of their sleeping bags touched. Steve pushed even closer, until he could feel the press of Tony’s body. He hoped his heat would leach into Tony soon. Their faces were close, and Tony pursed his lips and blew a breath that set Steve’s hair fluttering in his eyes. Tony chuckled.

“Don’t start something you’re not willing to finish,” Steve warned, grinning back. 

“Oh, trust me, if we get into a  _ blowing  _ competition, I will certainly finish.” Tony winked, and Steve barked out a startled laugh then shook his head. 

“Will you go to sleep already?” Steve said with a smile. “Your mouth gets you in enough trouble just talking.”

And that set Tony off in peals of laughter. Steve glowed. He loved making Tony laugh. He loved surprising him with giving as good as he got with the banter. He loved that he was the only one on the team who could make Tony’s eyes crinkle like that when he really lost it. 

“Fine,” Tony said, when he had recovered. “Night, Rogers.”

“Night, Stark.” 

Tony closed his eyes and burrowed down onto the sleeping bag cover he was using as a pillow. He shifted closer to Steve as he settled, curling in on himself a little so his calves were pressed firmly against Steve’s legs, his face near Steve’s chest. 

Steve stayed up for a long time, watching Tony drift off to sleep. He was grateful they got to have time like this, alone together. And that Tony trusted him with the things he found hard to say. Steve didn’t think he’d enjoy being an Avenger half as much as he did, if Tony weren’t there at his side.

**

The mission had gone horribly. Steve was covered in bruises and cuts that he knew would heal by morning, but that didn’t make them any less painful now. Tony was alive, thank god, and on his way to the hotel with Steve, but it had been close, and Steve was still feeling the pain and fear of that.

Tony asked for one room without hesitation. It would be a comfort to curl up in bed next to him now, feel the small amount of heat and breath under the sheets with him and know Tony was okay. They leaned towards each other in the elevator, not speaking but not needing to. They’d made it through, they’d saved the little town. Tomorrow they would wake up, shake it off, and take the quinjet back home to New York, but for now, they just wallowed in it - tired, sore, done.

Steve slipped his keycard in the hotel room slot and pushed the door open. It took him a minute to register what he was seeing, but when it clicked he screeched to a halt.

The room had two beds.

Tony hovered beside him for a moment then walked past, not looking towards Steve. He tossed his bag up on one of the beds. And, yes, of course, it wasn’t weird for them  _ not  _ to share. They’d been making do all this time, but most nights of the year were spent at the tower alone in his own room, without Tony. It wasn’t like Steve was incapable of sleeping on his own.  _ That  _ would be weird.

So he put his bag next to the other bed and changed into his sweatpants and t-shirt while Tony was in the bathroom. And it wasn’t cold in the room, so there was no reason for a chill to wriggle up his spine when he crawled under the sheets alone.

There was a quiet, awkward moment when they were both tucked in, the light still on between them, and neither seemed to know what to say. Tony shot Steve an odd look then reached for the light switch. “Night.”

“Goodnight.” Steve rolled onto his other side, facing the window instead, and closed his eyes.

He shifted one arm under the pillow when it started to twinge with soreness.

He rolled onto his back. His super sight could just make out the plaster pattern on the ceiling.

He unstacked then restacked his pillows.

He switched back onto his side again.

He tugged the blankets up so they weren’t tucked in so tightly on the sides.

He unstacked then restacked his pillows again.

Did he have to pee?

Had he remembered to pay his cell phone bill before they’d left?

He rolled onto his other side, forgetting until he was already there that it would put him facing Tony. He’d never minded facing him before, all the times they’d shared one bed, but now there was this gaping valley between them, and it felt weird to stare across the chasm and try to pick Tony’s features out of the dark. They hadn’t had a choice before, shoved together by circumstance, and all things were excused. But now they each had their own space, and the polite thing to do was to respect the others.

But Tony’s eyes were open too, and he was looking right at Steve.

“Can’t sleep?” Tony’s voice sounded oddly loud in the room, like he was shouting over the gap between the beds.

“Nope. Battle-high, I guess. Or still too sore.”

“Same.”

“How’s your ankle?” Steve asked.

“What?” Tony shifted up onto his elbow, peering over at Steve.

“Your ankle.” Steve raised his voice.

“Oh.” Tony made a face and Steve could see him rolling the joint under his blankets. “Better. It’ll be fine by tomorrow, I bet.”

“It was scary, Tony. Watching you go down,” Steve admitted into the darkened room. He picked at the threads on his blanket and suddenly he was seeing Tony hit the ground again, sending up a spray of dirt and rocks. He thought he heard Tony say something, but he couldn’t pick it out. Something wasn’t right… He frowned over at Tony, but he wasn’t looking at him anymore and the alarm clock on the table between them was blocking Steve’s view so he couldn’t read Tony’s expression.

Then Tony made a startling noise and sat up sharply in bed then sighed. Steve watched as he leaned over and flicked on the light. “Look, this is weird, isn’t it?”

Steve gaped, trying to figure out what he was talking about. “What?”

Tony hesitated. “Well, I’ll be honest, I just got so used to sharing and it’s super weird that you’re so far away and I know you have super hearing, but I can barely hear you and I’m kind of freezing over here and I just…” Tony trailed off. His eyes flicked up to Steve’s then back down to his duvet. He twined his fingers together over his knees.

Steve’s brain attempted to catch up with what he was hearing. “You got used to sharing?” he asked, when he thought he might have it figured out.

“Well… yeah. It seemed like we always ended up together. I thought you didn’t mind. It seemed like you didn’t mind.”

Tony looked over again, and this time Steve didn’t hesitate. He shuffled back in his bed then lifted the edge of the covers invitingly. He caught Tony’s eye. “Please?”

Tony scrambled out of his own bed and dove into Steve’s, flicking the light off again on the way. Steve dropped the covers over him. They faced each other on side-by-side pillows. “You don’t mind?” Tony asked.

Steve took a deep breath to steel himself, then took a gamble. He reached out and rested his fingers lightly on Tony’s forearm. “The opposite. I couldn’t sleep with you all the way over there.”

“Me neither,” Tony said in a rush. “Maybe… maybe we’ll sleep better, the closer…we...um...”

Steve wrapped his hand around Tony’s wrist and tugged a little, hoping, desperate, and sure enough Tony shifted across the sheets, giving into Steve’s pull until they were chest to chest. “I always sleep better when we’re together,” he admitted into the dark. He could feel the warmth of Tony’s breath on his cheek.

“Everything is better when we’re together.”

And that so perfectly summed it up that Steve couldn’t help it. He crossed his fingers and his toes, and he leaned in and kissed Tony. There was a brief, terrifying moment where Tony didn’t kiss him back, but then hot skin was wrapped around Steve  _ everywhere,  _ and Tony was kissing him like his life depended on it. 

Steve didn’t realize how much he’d been holding back until he let go. Warmth bloomed in his chest, and his aches and pains were forgotten as he rolled Tony onto his back and pressed down over him. Tony’s hands worked their way up under Steve’s t-shirt and stroked along his spine. Their bodies slotted together like they were made to, everything narrowing to the warm safety of having Tony right there against him, and the soft, sweet kisses he pressed to Steve’s lips.

They pulled apart with a shared, soft sigh, but Steve didn’t let Tony go far, and he didn’t seem to want to. They rested on their sides, wrapped around one another, Tony’s face buried in Steve’s neck, and Steve’s face buried in Tony’s hair. 

“So I guess you do have a type.” Tony was nearly giggling now.

Steve sighed. “I do.”

“Dark-haired, good-looking, a bit slutty…”

Steve nuzzled into Tony’s neck and kissed his way behind his ear. “Brilliant, funny, needs glasses but pretends not to…”

“Hmm, guess I really should hook you up with Ty,” Tony said lightly.

Steve shifted until his body was half-draped over Tony’s, snuggling down under the covers. Tony’s hands settled on Steve’s back, tucked up under his shirt. “Tony?”

“Mhm?”

“Go to sleep.”

Tony paused. “Okay. Goodnight.”

“Night.”  
  


*

*

*  
  


“Hey, Steve?”

“Yes?”

“Love you.”

“... I love you too, Tony.” 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Just One of Those Tech Problems (Hotels Have Better Pillows Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13781388) by [Neverever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/pseuds/Neverever)




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